The Federal Parliament will discuss various IT law topics during its 2022 Autumn session. Digitalisation continues to be a major topic. On the one hand, the Federal Act on the Use of Electronic Means for the Performance of Public Authority Tasks will be discussed, and on the other hand, the National Council will vote on several motions calling for the Federal government to provide financial aid for digitalisation projects in the private sector.

The City of Zurich will allow its organisational units to use cloud services in the future. The City Council has based its corresponding decision of 13 July 2022 primarily on a legal opinion by LAUX LAWYERS AG on the legality of cloud use. LAUX LAWYERS has written the legal opinion on behalf of the Organisation and Information Technology Department of the City of Zurich (OIZ). The legal opinion addresses various legal aspects of the use of public cloud services, including internal authorisations, official secrecy, data protection and lawful access to data. The legal opinion places a particular focus on the US CLOUD Act. We hereby publish the legal opinion by arrangement with the OIZ.

Alexander Hofmann's practice note (for Thomson Reuters) regarding the Swiss banking secrecy law has received its annual update (first published in February 2018).

Our Advisor Yves Gogniat has summarized the changes regarding international data transfer in the current issue of the it-business magazine (4/2021). In the wake of the Schrems II ruling, the EU has introduced new standard contractual clauses. Subsequently, the FDPIC has also adapted its guidelines, which is why most Swiss companies should review their transfers too.

In the 2021 winter session, the two chambers of the Swiss parliament will once again be dealing with various IT law topics. We provide an overview. The IT infrastructure of MeteoSwiss is to be expanded so that the entire application landscape is transferred to cloud providers. It will be discussed whether more competences are needed at federal level to defend against the dangers of cyber-attacks (ransomware attacks, etc.).

Attacks by cyber criminals have become an everyday reality. In many cases, companies are the direct target. However, businesses and their reputation can also be indirectly affected when individuals are attacked. In their article in the current issue of Computerworld, Marc Feldmann and Alexander Hofmann point out possible approaches how to react.

Recently, NZZ has reported that a billion-dollar deal incurs the risk of not being closed because Stadler Rail is said to have used an incorrect electronic signature. In the wake of the pandemic, many companies and government authorities have been looking for electronic signature and seal solutions. The attorneys at Laux Lawyers AG have gained experience in this area that clients in both the private and public sectors can benefit from. Our experience goes beyond the purely legal side. Thanks to our established collaboration with the document automation platform dociq.io (docIQ has implemented electronic signatures) we also know the technical side. It is also possible for Swiss companies to introduce the electronic signature according to CH- and EU-standards and to use them in parallel if need be (as per the requirements in a given scenario).

On 15 September 2021, Microsoft published a revised version of its Products and Services Data Protection Addendum. We explain the most important changes in our Policy Alert. As expected, Microsoft  implements the new EU standard contractual clauses. It uses the new Module 3 (Processor-to-Processor), and significantly expands the scope of the additional safeguards introduced in the wake of the Schrems II judgment. Read more in our Policy Alert.

In the autumn session of 2021, the two chambers of the Swiss parliament will again deal with various IT law topics. We provide an overview. The efforts to simplify international e-commerce and the proposal to examine the electronic collection of signatures for initiatives and referendums should be highlighted.